Oakland, CA- The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights’ breakthrough film highlighting the injustices and solutions to California’s youth prison problem, Learning From Our Mistakes: Transforming Juvenile Justice in California, has won a 2010 PASS Awards. (Prevention for a Safer Society) The PASS program is sposnored by one of the nation’s oldest organizations, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency

The PASS Awards are the only national recognition of print and broadcast journalists, TV news and feature reporters, producers, writers, and those in film and literature who focus America’s attention on our criminal justice, juvenile justice, and child welfare systems in a thoughtful and considerate manner.

Learning From Our Mistakes: Transforming Juvenile Justice in California is a production of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.The movie lays out a blueprint for juvenile justice based on the successes of other systems across the United States in Missouri, Washington DC, and Santa Clara County, to name a few. Through in-depth interviews with young people rehabilitated by these programs and experts in the field, Learning From our Mistakes serves as not a just film it is a blueprint for model juvenile justice practice.

“It is a great honor that underlines the work of transforming our State’s addiction to youth prison buildup and lockup,” said Jakada Imani of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, “Thankfully there is a better way. We could save money and young people’s lives by reforming our system to one that truly rehabilitates. This film highlights that.”

For a full list of the 2010 PASS Award recipients, visit http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/about/award-pass.html.